There are several varieties and sizes of smokehouses. Those that have a large smoking capacity do not breakdown and become compact for economical and convenient storage and transport. Smokehouses that can breakdown and fold for storage typically have a small capacity. An example of such a smokehouse is U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,374 to Christen. This smokehouse is easily assembled and readily disassembled for storing and transport; but the design has a relatively small comestible chamber, where the food is smoked. This limits the quantity of food that can be smoked. Thus, to smoke large amounts of meat or fish in the Christen device, the process must be repeated many times. This repetition is time consuming and, as a result, inconsistencies among the various batches of smoked food can occur. Another problem with the Christen device is that it is limited to an electric heating unit for a heat source.
Large smokehouses, where sizable amounts of food can be smoked at one time, are often built in or are built on a permanent location. Thus, they cannot readily be transported or stored on another location. One moveable larger size smokehouse is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,308 to Parker. This smokehouse has a large comestible chamber and is portable. However, it cannot be compacted into a smaller size for storage. Thus, the user must have enough storage space to hold the assembled smokehouse. Moreover, because this unit cannot be compacted, it is more awkward to transport.
Many other smokehouses with large smoking capacity are commercial in nature. These smokehouses have complicated designs and are expensive to build.